Impeach+Bush+Cheney: Priority On The Ground In DC…John Nirenberg and Supporters

Impeach+Bush+Cheney: Priority On The Ground In DC…John Nirenberg and Supporters!

Welcome To Washington John

http://www.marchinmyname.org

MEET IMPEACHMENT MARCHER JOHN NIRENBERG IN DC SATURDAY JANUARY 12TH
January 11, 2008

John Nirenberg will walk the final leg of his historic march from Boston to DC to urge the Congress to hold impeachment hearings on Bush and Cheney. Welcome him to DC with a march and rally at the home of the original U.S. Constitution, the National Archives.More info: www.marchinmyname.org


1) National Arboretum RouteApproximate start time: 9:00 amDistance: 5.7 milesEstimated walk time: Three hoursMeetup point: Parking lot of New York Avenue side of the Arboretum (see map)

Public transportation: No direct Metrorail access. Take Metro to Stadium Armory stop; B2 Metrobus stops two blocks from Arboretum. See directions.

Driving: Lots of parking spaces available (but remember that you'll have to have a way back to get your car!). See directions. Description of site: Open to the public at 8:00 am. Beautiful grounds. Restrooms in Visitors' Center. No food sold anywhere on site.

2) Union Station RouteApproximate start time: 11:30 amApproximate walking distance to National Archives: 1.42 milesApproximate walking time: 45 minutes

Public transportation: For Metrorail, take Red Line to Union Station. For Amtrak and commuter trains , Union Station is the main terminal for Washington, DC. Very easy.
Driving directions and parking info: Some paid parking; very limited street parking.
Description of site: Spectacular building with many shops, food vendors, restrooms. Heavy tourist traffic. Bring lots of signs!

3. National Archives RallyEstimated Start time: 12:30 pm

Meetup point: Constitution Avenue side of building

Public transportation: Take Metrorail Green or Yellow line to Archives/Navy Memorial stop.

Driving: Don't do it!!

Description of site: Located on National Mall, near Smithsonian, National Gallery. Limited food options.

For further information on the march, lodging suggestions, volunteer opportunities, and information on related activities being planned, email:takomaparkibc.gmail.com

Meet Impeachment Marcher John Nirenberg in DC Saturday January 12thBy mike hersh John Nirenberg will walk the final leg of his historic march from Boston to DC to urge the Congress to hold impeachment hearings on Bush and Cheney. Welcome him to DC with a march and rally at the home of the original US Constitution, ...Progressive Democrats of America Blog - http://blog.pdamerica.org

“It’s The Judiciary Committee Stupid!” Campaign Lead Linkhttp://courtofimpeachmentandwarcrimes.blogspot.com/2007/12/impeach-bush-and-cheney-calling-all.htmlWork With Wexler http://www.wexlerwantshearings.com

More Wexler Words:
http://loopyloo350.wordpress.com/2008/01/09/life-experiences-164

http://courtofimpeachmentandwarcrimes.blogspot.com/2007/12/impeach-bush-and-cheney-support-our.html

http://impeachspace.ning.com/profile/laserflight


Kucinich asks for New Hampshire recount in the interest of election integrity

DETROIT, MI – Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, the most outspoken advocate in the Presidential field and in Congress for election integrity, paper-ballot elections, and campaign finance reform, has sent a letter to the New Hampshire Secretary of State asking for a recount of Tuesday’s election because of “unexplained disparities between hand-counted ballots and machine-counted ballots.”

“I am not making this request in the expectation that a recount will significantly affect the number of votes that were cast on my behalf,” Kucinich stressed in a letter to Secretary of State William M. Gardner. But, “Serious and credible reports, allegations, and rumors have surfaced in the past few days…It is imperative that these questions be addressed in the interest of public confidence in the integrity of the election process and the election machinery – not just in New Hampshire, but in every other state that conducts a primary election.”

Also, the reports, allegations, and rumors regarding possible vote-count irregularities have been further fueled by the stunning disparities between various “independent” pre-election polls and the actual election results," Kucinich wrote. "The integrity, credibility, and value of independent polling are separate issues, but they appear to be relevant in the context of New Hampshire’s votes."

He added, “Ever since the 2000 election – and even before – the American people have been losing faith in the belief that their votes were actually counted. This recount isn’t about who won 39% of 36% or even 1%. It’s about establishing whether 100% of the voters had 100% of their votes counted exactly the way they cast them.”

Kucinich, who drew about 1.4% of the New Hampshire Democratic primary vote, wrote, “This is not about my candidacy or any other individual candidacy. It is about the integrity of the election process.” No other Democratic candidate, he noted, has stepped forward to question or pursue the claims being made.

“New Hampshire is in the unique position to address – and, if so determined, rectify – these issues before they escalate into a massive, nationwide suspicion of the process by which Americans elect their President. Based on the controversies surrounding the Presidential elections in 2004 and 2000, New Hampshire is in a prime position to investigate possible irregularities and to issue findings for the benefit of the entire nation,” Kucinich wrote in his letter.

“Without an official recount, the voters of New Hampshire and the rest of the nation will never know whether there are flaws in our electoral system that need to be identified and addressed at this relatively early point in the Presidential nominating process,” said Kucinich, who is campaigning in Michigan this week in advance of next Tuesday’s Presidential primary in that state.

THIS SUNDAY'S COVER STORY IN THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE

makes plain the threat: The winner of the 2008 presidential election could be decided by flawed, insecure, and hackable electronic voting machines.Congress is poised to consider a new emergency paper ballots bill next week -- but we'll have to convince them to act right away. I signed the petition urging local, state, and federal officials to require paper ballots for our votes. Join me at the link below? http://pol.moveon.org/paper2008/?r_by=-1346069-LH_uwN&rc=mailto

NO MORE POLLSTERS, PUNDITS, AND PROPAGANDISTS – LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE

OBSERVATIONS ON THE NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY

By Laurie Dobson
Maine's Independent Candidate for US Senate
www.dobsonforsenate.com

The New Hampshire primary just completed raises important questions about powerful corporate forces who seek to manipulate and control our democracy for their Wall Street backers. Anyone who watches cable television knows that the pundits, pollsters, reporters and anchormen of the main networks do not regard themselves as people who report the news – they views themselves as the ones who will determine the results. People at many of the networks, especially some at MSNBC have exposed themselves as partisans and propagandists for a specific candidate – Obama, and as adversaries of Mrs. Clinton. In fact, there was a collective media swoon for Obama, with reporters demanding from voters a voluntary suspension of disbelief in their favorite candidate.

There was also a pervasive tendency of the corporate media to exclude any mention of John Edwards, and this was especially strong at the notorious Fox News. The anti-Clinton and anti-Edwards forces clearly wanted the entire Democratic Party primary process to end in New Hampshire .

With the nomination of Obama by acclamation before his candidacy could be tested and his program examined. In this context, the commentators devoted much time to which other candidates would drop out, and when. As Edwards correctly pointed out, they wanted the primary process to end, with 48 states and 98% of the American people not heard from. Every state deserves to have a meaningful primary, no matter how late in the season it may be held. Those delegates should count, and the existing candidates should stay in the race to make sure this will happen. That will mean more politicization in more states, a good thing in itself.

Public opinion polls have been shown to be inherently unreliable. The leading pollsters have egg all over their faces. Their polls have been turned into push polls, manipulating voters and seeking to stampede them. What kind of corrupt dealings lie behind the failure of the polls we do not know, but we have the right to be very suspicious. We must prevent the pollsters from influencing future elections with their dubious products. Henceforth no candidate must be excluded from any debate or any primary based on these unreliable polls.

There is also the issue of Diebold electronic machine vote fraud, this time to the detriment of Obama, which has also come up again in New Hampshire . We must redouble our efforts to neutralize the threat of electronic vote fraud in any form, and prevent more distortion of vote totals.

We now look forward tom one of the best political seasons in 40 years. The candidates who are still in the race for both parties represent real social forces and real points of view, and they should all fight all the way to their respective conventions if they are serious. Christ Matthews and Mika Brzezinski should stop speculating about who will drop out next, and find a new hobby. They might even discuss the issues – things like the urgent need for a federal law now to ban all foreclosures on homes, farms, hospitals, transportation companies, public utilities, factories, and other productive and socially necessary activities. They could talk about the need to outlaw derivatives and hedge funds.

We are seeing a few networks remembering that what decides a nomination is not media hype and polling numbers and raw vote totals, but delegate counts at the national conventions. We need open conventions, not vapid media events controlled by manipulative media consultants. Party conventions have been dying, and here is a chance to revive them. We have not seen contested conventions since 1952, when Eisenhower defeated Robert Taft. Conventions did not end on the first ballot. They went on for ten of twenty ballots, with the outcome very much in doubt and not controlled by any particular clique of bankers or financiers. There also used to be real debates, floor fights about issues in the form of platform planks. The last big one may have been the fight over the Vietnam War plank at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago .

I call on all people to become politically active this year. We are now in the midst of a party re-alignment similar to those of 1828, 1860, 1896, 1932, and 1968. For forty years, since the coming of Nixon, we have been suffering under a political cycle based on the southern strategy, later called the Reagan coalition. This meant that southern states, white men, wealthy suburbanites, and religious evangelicals were the groups dominating a fragmented electorate. Under this system, Maine and New England counted for virtually nothing.

This cycle has brought us disastrous results – economic decline, political crisis, and military adventurism and defeat, all culminating in Bush. There are many signs that the Reagan coalition has been shattered, and a new coalition, a new formula for winning the electoral college, is struggling to be born. The apathy of forty years has been replaced by enthusiasm and record voter turnout, especially among the young. The old wedge issues of Lee Atwater and Karl Rove are no longer working, starting with race. Money no longer buys elections – ask Mitt Romney, whose bottomless bank accounts do not procure him election victories.

There is a fighting chance that this party realignment could go in a positive direction, although it could still go in the direction of fascism. People need to run for office at all levels – we need a people’s candidates movement.

My campaign provides the perfect vehicle for those who want to participate in politics in this new season. Last weekend, Bush’s reckless and irresponsible policies brought us close to war once again in the Persian Gulf with a possible new Gulf of Tonkin incident. The body count in Iraq is rising once again, as it had to because there has been no US withdrawal.

This must be stopped. Wall Street says we are now in a recession, and I say that Wall Street, and not the American people, should pay for the recession that they have created. The constitutional crimes of Bush-Cheney cry out for impeachment. I urge you to join my campaign and support me.

Space Invaders: Five Million Aliens for Hillary
Published January 10th, 2008 in Articles
Will José Crow Voter ID Laws Pick Our President?

by Greg PalastThursday, January 10, 2008

State Representative Russell Pearce of Mesa Arizona has warned us:

“There is a massive effort under way to register illegal aliens in this country.”

What Is He Capable Of? The Presidential Psychology at the End of Days By John P Briggs, M.D. and JP Briggs II, Ph.D.

Time's Newton-Small asked: "[I]s there room in Washington for both ...Media Matters for America - Washington,DC,USAGeorge Miller (D-CA), whom she referred to as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) "BFF," "announced today he's endorsing [Sen. Barack] Obama [D-IL]. ...See all stories on this topic

Obama's California Campaign: Precinct Captain Training and an ...California Majority Report - CA,USA... First Read speculates that this is "the closest thing to getting a [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi endorsement as you can come without actually getting it. ...See all stories on this topic

Pelosi Tacitly Supporting Obama?By Jonathan Singer This is perhaps the closest thing to getting a Nancy Pelosi endorsement as you can come without actually getting it. Miller is incredibly close with her politically. He wouldn't be doing this without her consent of sorts. ...MyDD - http://www.mydd.com

DOOLITTLE RETIRES; KERRY, PELOSI ALLY ENDORSE OBAMA; CLINTON ...By Ron Gunzburger Another interesting development was Congressman George Miller's (D-CA) endorsement of Obama -- as Miller is viewed as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's closest personal friend and ally in the House. Miller's announcement appears to be a ...Politics1 - http://www.politics1.com/

Foley Investigators Want Pelosi's HelpBy rusty Mark Foley, whose e-mails and instant messages to teenage former congressional pages shocked the country, are hoping Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will grant them access to Foley's House computers. ...All Content Citizens for Responsibi... - http://www.citizensforethics.org//

Some in US Gov't purposely allowed Sep 11th to happen?Student Operated Press - Vero Beach,FL,USAThe Bush/Cheney regime is using 9/11 as a pretext to brazenly subvert our US Constitution, launch illegal invasions of Afghanistan, Iraq, (Iran? ...See all stories on this topic

Impeachment debateBy kmr Spent a little time on the phone with Michael Tomasky and Bruce Fein who are coming to Carrboro to debate the impeachment of the president and vice president. Nice chat with each. Tomasky, who was covering the NH primary, ...BlueNC - The people's think tank - http://bluenc.com

Bird-Dog Jerry Nadler Sunday in NYC re ImpeachmentBy Daily Kos(Daily Kos) Wexler's call for impeachment hearings in the House Judiciary Committee was sent yesterday by a group of concerned citizens working together under the banner AskNadler2Impeach.org. We wanted it to reach him this week while he is still ...Daily Kos - http://www.dailykos.com/section/Diary

Musharraf will quit if next govt seeks his impeachmentThaindian.com - Bangkok,Bangkok,Thailand... 11 (ANI): Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said that he would resign in case the new government post February 18 polls sought his impeachment. ...See all stories on this topic

Impeach the Bush/Cheney Junta Goes SkiingBy gmoke As usual, I wore my home-made Impeach the Bush/Cheney Junta button [paper laminated with clear storage tape and a safety pin attached to the back with duck tape, Bush/Cheney colored red, blue edging on a white background]. ...Daily Kos - http://www.dailykos.com/section/Diary

Democrats must take actionOregon Daily Emerald - Eugene,OR,USAHistory will damn George Bush and Dick Cheney for treasonous crimes against the US Constitution, state-sanctioned torture, and global war crimes. ...See all stories on this topic

Cindy Sheehan & Jesse Jackson Jr Question Hillary Rodham Clinton's ...By Stars&Stripes Cindy Sheehan, in the Dissident Voice, wonders why Hillary cried while responding to a question posited to her just before the New Hampshire primary voters voted. She wonders why Mrs. Clinton cried then but didn't cry over the men and ...Sean Hannity Discussion - http://forums.hannity.com

Nader & Mckinney confirm ‘A Presidential Debate That Matters’ in ...By wilderside “Peace Mom” Cindy Sheehan will co-moderate the debate with former President of the SF Board of Supervisors Matt Gonzalez. Other co-hosts include San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, KPFA anchor Aimee ...On the Wilder Side - http://wilderside.wordpress.com

Iraq snapshotBy Common Ills(Common Ills) Repeating, I don't care who you vote for (or even if you vote -- nor I have endorsed any candidate except Cindy Sheehan for the 8th US Congressional district in California). Unlike like Little Media, I do care about Iraq. ...The Common Ills - http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-campaign11jan11,0,7808120.story?coll=la-home-center

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-campaign11jan11,0,7808120.story?coll=la-home-center

Kerry Endorses Obama
He cites the Illinois senator’s stance on the Iraq war and says, ‘We are electing judgment and character, not years on this Earth.’ Meanwhile, Richardson pulls out of the race.


THIS JUST IN! A 'HELPFUL' ENDORSEMENT!By Wally(Wally)

Those looking elsewhere or open to doing so should especially pay attention this Sunday, January 13th, when the Green Party presidential debate in San Francisco (moderated by Cindy Sheehan) is held with Cynthia McKinney, Kent Mesplay, ...The Daily Jot - http://thedailyjot.blogspot.com/


Chuck Terzella Editorial: Cindy Sheehan Loses The Battle But Wins ...Unconfirmed Sources (satire) - USAThat's where, as a satirical writer, I believe I am with Cindy Sheehan. It's amazing really, but I posted my first Cindy Sheehan story on August 7th, ...See all stories on this topic

Bush and World Leaders 'Condemn' Cindy Sheehan's ProtestUnconfirmed Sources (satire) - USAFrench President Jacques Chirac calls Cindy Sheehan's protest the work of "savages." Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin said that "it is time for the ...See all stories on this topic

Chuck Terzella Editorial: A Love Letter To Cindy Sheehan- Update One.Unconfirmed Sources (satire) - USAby Chuck Terzella I can imagine you must be getting hundreds, if not thousands of emails and messages by now, from both sides. I hope the ones in support so ...See all stories on this topic

More bad news for the antiwar LeftBy Rocco DiPippo(Rocco DiPippo) For the America-hating Cindy Sheehan Left, the hits just keep on coming. Now, an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal by John McCain and Joseph Lieberman praising the success of the "surge" is sure to further demoralize America's ...THE AUTONOMIST - http://antiprotester.blogspot.com/


Bird-Dogging NadlerWexler's call for impeachment hearings in the House Judiciary Committee was sent yesterday. We wanted it to reach him this week while he is still in the city on recess and chose to send it yesterday with 133 signers although it is clear ...AfterDowningStreet.org - Impeach... - http://www.afterdowningstreet.org

Media Misses Story: Obedwards Wins New HampshireBy Paul Rogat Loeb. As media commentators proclaim Hillary Clinton's rebirth from the ashes of defeat, they miss a critical story--Obama and Edwards won the New Hampshire primary. Add together Obama's 36 percent and Edwards's 17, ...AfterDowningStreet.org - Impeach... - http://www.afterdowningstreet.org

Impeachment Protest at Bus Project Conference - Friday 1:30 PMBy Bonnie Tinker The demonstration is also supported by Impeach Northwest (www.impeach-nw.com), a network of local activists who are a part of a national movement encouraging the House of Representatives to initiate hearings on an impeachment resolution ...portland indymedia - newswire - http://portland.indymedia.org/

Check out this video that has over 64,000 hits on youtube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNL6DyH_IfA

This is not preaching to you the choir.

This You-tube video on Iranian speedboats is on fire - 100’s comments a hour

The Pentagon video is being proven to be a fake.

We need comments saying "Impeach Bush if this turns out to be fake" and
US will be attacked by 40,000 suicide bombers if we bomb Iran.

Have fun with this - there are alot of right wingers commenting here.

TOO LATE FOR JUSTICE?

From Current Invective * www.currentinvective.com

Most people seem to be pretty much satisfied that the current president and vice-president have acted criminally, but the citizenry doesn't seem to be in a hurry to do anything about it. Some say that with just a year left in their term of office, it's too late for justice for these guys. Impeachment would take forever, they argue, and nothing else would get done, and when it's over, Bush wins, because Bush always wins. That's my congressman's view, anyway. I know because I asked him.

Is it really too late? What sort of groundwork would have to be laid? What processes would kick in, how long would they take, and what might be pushed aside? What consequences might be anticipated?

The groundwork has already been laid. The charges against the executive have been fleshed out in meetings and conferences across the country. They have been presented to political committees, town meetings, and state and local governing bodies, and they have been summed up in articles of impeachment now pending against Richard Cheney.

To proceed on the articles now pending in the House, the Judiciary Committee would have to convene a hearing of some kind. In Connecticut, when we impeached our governor a few years back, we had evidence on the record before the corresponding state legislative committee. The House committee can dispense with that step because it has an ample public record, including sworn testimony in court and before Congress.

For the top ten crimes committed by this executive, there is no need for additional testimony. The evidence is on the record, and it could be presented in narrative form by the committee's chief counsel, presenting the work of two lawyers working hard for two weeks. In the House, it's an accusation, remember, and not a trial.

There is little question that the committee would establish criminal liability in connection with the stated rationale for war, the politicization of federal prosecutions, spying on Americans, torturing prisoners, holding prisoners without trial, malfeasance as commander-in-chief, and any of the dozens of other crimes committed openly and brazenly by our chief executive officers. I would expect a unanimous vote, since the evidence is overwhelming.

This could all be accomplished quickly. A few committee staffers would be occupied for a few short weeks putting together an iron-clad indictment, using evidence on the public record. The committee would hear the evidence in the form of a narrative for a day or two and vote. Most likely, on a vote of the committee that the articles against Cheney should be considered by the full House, the articles would be amended to include Bush. If Cheney is impeached, Bush has to be impeached on the same grounds, since there can be no doubt that Bush had full knowledge of Cheney's activities and sanctioned them.

The full House would schedule a few days of debate, with Judiciary Committee members leading the debate for and against the indictment, and the House would vote on the articles. Each article that received a majority vote of the full House would go to the Senate for trial. Members of the Judiciary Committee would form the prosecution team in the Senate. The Chief Justice presides as judge over a trial in the Senate, and the trial takes as long as it takes to make the case on each article. The president and vice-president would have an opportunity to rebut and defend. The evidence would be presented much as it was in the House, except that it might be reverified by live witnesses. Figure a couple of weeks.

A few congressmen would be occupied full-time for some weeks putting a coherent and compelling presentation together, but the rest of the House could go back to other business, having spent a grand total of three or four days on this. Nothing would have to be pushed aside to make way for impeachment. As for the senators, they could busy themselves with other matters in advance of the trial. They would be acting as a jury, and there's nothing for them to do until they get the evidence. Not long after the trial starts, it ends, and the Senate votes. Two-thirds to convict. On the line is the rule of law itself, and politics takes a back seat. Would the stock market go down? Maybe. Would foreigners lose faith in the dollar? Maybe they'd get it back.

On conviction, the president and vice-president are removed, but the Senate could suspend their removal until shortly before the expiration of their term to ensure an orderly succession. It's win-win. In Connecticut, we spent a summer impeaching our governor, and it was worth it. He actually went to jail. He must be seething now--he was removed and prosecuted for taking gifts from state contractors. The guv had to do time for something a thousand times less serious than what these thugs have done, and they're walking around free.

What are the consequences of doing nothing and allowing Bush and Cheney to serve out their term? A strong precedent would be established to exempt the president from all law. The next president will almost certainly claim a privilege to imprison people without trial if this president is allowed to get away with doing just that. By compelling logic, a future president who wished to extend the privilege to shooting people down in the street could cite the license accorded by the House to the Bush administration in our time, exempting the president from the criminal laws.

Your congressman would be happy if he or she were not the sole prosecuting authority in the case of crimes committed by the president. It's true that a federal prosecutor could bring criminal charges against the president and vice president, but the president happens to be in charge of all the prosecutors, and prosecutors don't often prosecute their bosses. There could be an independent prosecutor, but the president can fire that officer, too, as Nixon proved the last time we removed a president.

And so it's left to the House to prosecute, and the House won't do it. My member won't, and he wants me to think it's too late, so I'll stop pestering him. It's not, and I won't.

From Current Invective * www.currentinvective.com

EDITORIALS

http://www.neimpeach.org/wp/?page_id=20


http://www.myspace.com/pledgetoimpeach


http://www.americanfreedomcampaign.org

Mukasey decides that the Bush administration should investigate itself" href="http://www.americanfreedomcampaign.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=231&Itemid=41">Mukasey decides that the Bush administration should investigate itself

On January 2, Attorney General Michael Mukasey opened a formal criminal investigation into the destruction of tapes documenting torture by the CIA. While this appears on its face to be good news, we seriously doubt that President Bush’s Justice Department will be able to conduct an objective investigation into possible criminal activity by individuals not only in the CIA, but also in the White House. We believe a special prosecutor appointed by the attorney general but completely independent from the Justice Department is needed.

Interestingly, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Alexandria recused itself from the investigation because the office had handled cases involving CIA interrogations, possible including those that had been videotaped. Yet Mukasey himself, as a federal judge, signed a warrant used by the FBI to arrest "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla. This warrant was issued based on information gathered from the videotaped interrogation of Abu Zubaydah involving waterboarding. This just happens to be one of the videotaped interrogations destroyed by the CIA. (So we now have an even greater appreciation for Mukasey’s inability to say whether waterboarding is torture during his confirmation hearing.)

Should Mukasey be overseeing this investigation? Not by a long shot.

To Nancy With All Due Respecthttp://afterdowningstreet.org/node/29986

By David Swanson

Dear Nancy.

Cindy asked me to write you a letter and promised she would deliver it.

So I picture the two of you in your home over tea as you peruse this and a four-foot stack of similar missives, and I hope mine catches your eye, and I hope there are no more of those annoying poor people out front, or that you're able to have them arrested quickly and quietly.

I know that there is good in you, Nancy, and I know that you are extremely smart.

I can tell by the skill with which you've hidden from us that aforementioned good.

But I'm concerned about how you will be remembered in history.

Specifically, I'm concerned that you may not be remembered at all.

If you were the leader who ended the wars, made peace, and impeached criminals, you would be remembered and quite possibly elected president some day.

Attempting to impeach a president for an illegal war seemed to work pretty well for Congressman Lincoln.

If you plan to continue, instead, down the present course, then I feel obliged to let you in on a little secret: It won't be remembered as your war. If the planet survives and the occupation of Iraq is glorified with statues, none of them will be of you.

And, as for your historic act of removing impeachment from the Constitution, the republic won't survive it, and neither will any memory of the Constitution.

So there will be no history of your having ended it. Even if the rest of us are spared nuclear holocaust and global warming, your memory will, I'm afraid, be pretty well lost.

I'm sorry that you feel you have no good choices. I'm sorry that the media scares you so much. I'm sorry that your kids had to grow up with the name Hairy.

But I think there is a pretty good option still open to you. Pretending you have other things to do won't work. After a year, the public now understands that any good bills on any issues will be vetoed, and that the way to end the occupation of Iraq is not to pretend to try to pass bills, but to refuse to pass any more bills.

Remember when you said that we should elect Democrats in 2006 so that you would have the power of subpoena? Well, you don't. Bush, Cheney, and gang have simply refused to comply.

Remember when you said that your top priority was ending the occupation of Iraq? I'd hate to be any lower down on that list.

Nancy, I've gone to rallies around this country and other countries and asked crowds if they can name the woman responsible for continuing to fund the occupation and for refusing to impeach.

Each time, the shouts come: PE-LO-SEE

That's what you'll be remembered as, if you're lucky.

In contrast, the woman delivering this letter to you has withstood two years of full frontal corporate media assault and walked away smiling. If you grow a spine, I'm sure she'll be glad to give you tips on how to handle the corporate media.

She is loved by many, hated by a few, and universally understood to say what she thinks. Cindy lost her son in the war you keep funding, the war that killed more Iraqis and Americans during your first year in power than in any previous year, the war that killed 9 Americans in the past two days.

Your arms are dripping in blood up to the shoulders, Nancy.

You think Cindy is no threat to your seat in Congress.

But you've only had one year so far to give Congress a record disapproval rating. You've got a whole year ahead of you.

You can be smart, Nancy, and let the Cheney impeachment hearings begin.

Or you can make the same move that your Party made during Iran Contra: avoid impeachment, avoid responsibility, allow further transfer of power to the White House, and lose the next elections.

And. Be. Forgotten.

Cheney Impeachment
By BDN StaffWednesday, January 09, 2008 - Bangor Daily News

Over the past 18 months, a core group of Democrats and others from the left has steadfastly maintained that President Bush and Vice President Cheney should be impeached. Mainstream Democrats in Congress are sympathetic to their arguments, but most have bowed to the political reality that impeachment proceedings would gridlock the federal government in the last year of the Bush administration, distract lawmakers from resolving problems that affect the daily lives of Americans, and possibly trigger an endless cycle of reprisal impeachment attempts for future administrations.

There is another angle on this difficult question, raised by Rep. Michael Michaud in a Dec. 21 letter to Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. "There is no doubt that at the very least this Administration has dangerously expanded the scope of executive authority and flaunted the constitutionally defined separation of powers," Rep. Michaud wrote.

The letter urges Rep. Conyers to schedule impeachment hearings on Mr. Cheney, though not on the president’s conduct. Those supporting impeachment argue Cheney in his role in the administration has repeatedly violated the Constitution on matters such as warrantless telephone eavesdropping, deliberately misled Congress and the American people about the threat posed by Iraq and Iran, revealed the name of a CIA agent, and ordered the abuse of prisoners in violation of international treaties.

The specific alleged abuses of power will, for the most part, fade away when the Bush-Cheney administration leaves Washington. But the "dangerously expanded" powers of the executive branch cited by Rep. Michaud could remain in place. Those powers will be inherited regardless of which party takes the White House, and while Democrats may relish the opportunities that come with an expanded presidency, ultimately, such an imbalance in the government is unhealthy and will increase the chance of future abuses.

Mr. Bush’s interpretation of executive powers has led critics to dub his tenure the "imperial presidency." Rep. Michaud correctly notes in his call for hearings on impeachment of Mr. Cheney that: "Expansions and potential abuses of power by this administration become precedents for future ones, which lead to further erosions of our constitutional rights."

Rep. Michaud had given the impeachment matter long and careful thought, his press secretary Monica Castellanos reported, before calling for the hearings. The congressman has not prejudged the outcome of the hearings and possible investigation, she said, but he strongly believes those steps are essential in restoring Americans’ trust in their government.

It is a big step for Congress to take, especially in a politically charged presidential election year. But if it is possible, a dispassionate examination of the manner in which Mr. Cheney and this administration have stretched the executive branch to the point of distorting its constitutional definition would be enlightening, and could help rebalance the powers of the federal government.

This System’s Achilles’ Heel By Malcolm Martin
Posted on January 9, 2008 by dandelionsalad
Dandelion Salad
By Malcolm Martin08/01/08 “ICH“


The American electorate again slogged through the political muck to try to be heard in 2006 AND 2008.

Their effort turned out to be an exercise in complete futility or the nation’s symbol of anti-war motherhood Cindy Sheehan would not be challenging the nation’s first female House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2008.

The experience, frustrating as it was, will open more minds to the real source of our oppression and the true telling of our nation’s history. The fact is that the story of the United States of America is bound up in the birth and rise of capitalism, and the nation’s present descent into dictatorship is part of the same economic system’s decline and inevitable death.

Coincidental with the birth of the US, fueled by the Industrial Revolution, the capitalist system was beginning to break the brutish shackles of feudalism on the people of that day. At the same time capitalism began creating the only force capable of destroying it—the working class.

Nascent capitalism enjoyed explosive growth and it spawned revolutions around the world, including the American Revolution.

The young and dynamic economic system found that a bourgeois democracy was the most fertile soil for development. The new nation and several other rising industrial countries adopted this form of government.

From the birth of the republic, capitalism has been able to provide the American people with several powerful incentives to buy into the program. Five percent of the world’s population is invited to consume 30% of the world’s resources by way of imperialism. Then the white American majority is invited to enjoy a disproportionate share of that material wealth by way of racism. An especially comfortable place is provided to politicians, intellectuals, academics, bureaucrats, and entertainers in the narrow strata of society Marx called the petty bourgeois.

Nowadays though, the deal with the capitalist devil is becoming more and more difficult to keep! The U.S. is being integrated into a global economy as capitalism searches for the lowest possible wage and the greatest possible profit.

The process is steadily reshaping ours into a subsistence-wage service economy. The jobs of elite industrial workers, from auto and steelworkers to airline pilots, are disappearing across the country along with their health benefits and pensions. Even white Americans have begun to feel the pain of a declining standard of living. It is a process that will not be reversed.

Capitalism’s contradictory impulses have begun bumping into each other. It’s happening in the ongoing national debate on immigration and it happened in the recent Dubai Ports World controversy. Profits remain the system’s lifeblood so the ruling class craves an immigrant guest worker program and the United Arab Emirates’ petrodollars but the rabid anti-immigrant and anti-Arab sentiment coursing through U.S. society blocked that path to greater riches.

The situation is worsening though. No matter the potential backlash now, desperate crumbling financial pillars of the system like Citicorp and Morgan Stanley are happily accepting the sovereign wealth funds of Abu Dhabi, Singapore and China.

Racism and xenophobia and nationalism and patriotism and every other tactic of division have been promoted relentlessly by capitalism with good reason. White supremacy, Black Nationalism, religious fundamentalism, sexism, homophobia, and all the crackpot schemes and the nihilistic cults of the bourgeoisie, like al-Qaeda, are dead ends for all of us who work. In contrast, our unity would be a poison arrow shot into this system’s Achilles’ heel.

Now as capitalism enters its final stage, a nearly seamless political transition to fascism is well underway in the United States.

The mass media, the electoral machinery, and both major political parties are under corporate control.

The trappings of bourgeois democracy are a hindrance on profits and so they are being shredded.

The Constitution and its Bill of Rights are being rendered meaningless by plans for perpetual war, by presidential signing statements and the theory of the unitary executive, extraordinary rendition, government surveillance programs and the like.

Programs based on democratic principles like the public schools, Social Security, and Medicare are being starved to death.

Separate and parallel Internet and military forces are being constructed along with internment camps and the legal construct for a martial law declaration.

Blackwater is the growing private military force of the ruling class, protecting them in Baghdad and patrolling the streets of New Orleans for them now.

Because there are too many sons and daughters of the working class in the US military it cannot be trusted by the bourgeoisie when the order is given to attack the American people.

Likely the two militaries will one day face each other in combat.

Bloodless coups in 2000 and 2004 installed George W. Bush in the White House and it would take a team of psychoanalysts and profilers to catalogue the many and varied mental pathologies of Bush and his henchmen in the U.S. government.

The point to keep in mind is that in this time and in this place the capitalist system required barely human persons in power capable of carrying out insane and grotesquely inhumane policies, up to and including nuclear warfare.

Capitalism, like the HAL 9000 computer onboard the spaceship Discovery in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey is out of the control of its makers.

The system now has only human sentinels, best represented by the so-called Neo-Conservatives in ruling circles.

American bourgeois democracy is being held under water. It will drown, never to be resuscitated.

The liberal intelligentsia of the petty bourgeois spins its wheels in the mud of this reality.

On this point Al Gore’s quixotic campaign to sound the alarm on the ecological disaster right around the corner is instructive.

In An Inconvenient Truth Gore lays out the incontrovertible facts of global warming, hoping to organize and agitate to a tipping point that changes governmental policy.

A young Al Gore saw Dr. Martin Luther King do just that in his confrontation with racism.

Despite titling his recent book “The Assault On Reason” Gore and clings to the idea that rationality still has influence in American ruling circles.

The real inconvenient truth is that even the great Dr. King could not generate an effective civil rights movement in this era and that the rape of the planet will not end until a stake is driven into the heart of capitalism.

The sad truth is that the petty bourgeois cannot defeat the capitalist ruling class! They are a timid and passive group who, in this time for warriors, gather at the gates of the palace to nag and complain essentially to each other.

There are scores of Internet websites, magazines, newspapers, radio programs and networks, and some small television networks where liberal, left, progressive, and other commentators show up to whine out loud.

They rail against the outrages and inhumanity of the U.S. government and the Bush Administration. They point out the duplicity, the corruption, the hypocrisy, the inhumanity, and the utter criminality loosed in the world today but to no useful end since capitalism will not be reformed nor shamed to death.

Pointing out the defects of capitalism has become as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.

The ruling class brushes its liberal democratic critics off like gnats as long as they stay away from the third rail.

But let one of these voices dare mention unity based on working class-consciousness and a mobilization to strike at profits and great danger would shortly thereafter visit.

No matter the danger, it must begin to be spoken by a warrior vanguard: socialism is the only way humankind will live into the distant future on this planet.

Only a working class with a consciousness of itself and united across all racial, national and cultural boundaries is capable of seizing power.

Only a working class in power will see to the end of this madness and willingly share our available resources for the sake of human survival.

Bad News from New Hampshire, Good News from MaineAtlantic Free Press - Groningen,NetherlandsThe Bangor Daily News today became the first daily newspaper in the nation to editorialize in favor of the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney. ...See all stories on this topic

Two Roads Diverging in 2008: Which Way Will We Go?
Atlantic Free Press - Groningen,Netherlands
The House Judiciary Committee votes to begin impeachment hearings against the Vice President; Cheney resigns, "for reasons of health," before he has to ...See all stories on this topic

LETTER: Impeachment should remain 'on the table'Spring Grove Herald - MN, USAAll of the above is why I feel Congress should not take impeachment off the table until the administration takes off the table the option to use nuclear ...See all stories on this topic

LOCAL NEWS BRIEFSDurham Herald Sun - Durham,NC,USACARRBORO -- The Coalition for the Constitution will host a Debate on Impeachment between Republican Bruce Fein (pro-impeachment) and Democrat Michael ...See all stories on this topic

Impeach Bush and CheneyCharlotte Observer - Charlotte,NC,USAAs we enter the eighth year of the Bush-Cheney administration, I have painfully concluded that the only honorable course for me is to urge the impeachment ...See all stories on this topic

Call for Impeachment by a Former B-24 PilotIt is unlikely that Bush and Cheney will face impeachment proceedings because majority of our elected representatives lack courage and honesty needed to face this issue. Digg / upcoming - http://digg.com/

Still Looming: Cheney ImpeachmentBy Rainbow Demon(Rainbow Demon) Over the past 18 months, a core group of Democrats and others from the left has steadfastly maintained that President Bush and Vice President Cheney should be impeached. Mainstream Democrats in Congress are sympathetic to their ...=ÇÖ££êÈ~HÖÚ§ê~§†ÚÐÌÖ= - http://coffeehousestudio.blogspot.com/

Call for Impeachment by a Former B-24 PilotBy musafir(musafir) It is unlikely that Bush and Cheney will face impeachment proceedings because majority of our elected representatives lack courage and honesty needed to face this issue. Not a citizen 1972, I could not vote for George McGovern, ...Musafir's Musings - http://pacetua.blogspot.com/

A case for impeachmentBy David Seago As we enter the eighth year of the Bush-Cheney administration, I have belatedly and painfully concluded that the only honorable course for me is to urge the impeachment of the president and the vice president. ...Inside the editorial page - http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/oped

Answer is ImpeachmentAnswer is Impeachment.Digg / videos / upcoming - http://digg.com/

Without Impeachment, The 2008 Election Will Crown A King, Not A ...By Timmy(Timmy) Without Impeachment, The 2008 Election Will Crown A King, Not A President This article says it all. NONE of the presidential candidates are addressing certain MAJOR issues that affect us RIGHT NOW. It's a great article.Ranting Timmy - http://rantingtimmy.blogspot.com/

Join the Impeachment March in DC this Saturday, January 12th!On Saturday, January 12, sixty year-old patriot John Niremberg's historic march from Boston to Washington, DC to urge Congress to hold impeachment hearings on Bush and Cheney will come to an end. He will walk the final leg of his ...PDA National News - http://pdamerica.org/

Forget impeachment, think criminal prosecution insteadColumbia Missourian - Columbia,MO,USAIn the last six months, I have received an inordinate number of e-mails imploring me to sign petitions seeking the impeachment of the entire executive ...See all stories on this topic

Poll: Vermont Wants Bush, Cheney Impeached.Sixty-one percent said they would be in favor of Congress beginning impeachment proceedings against President Bush. Thirty-three percent opposed it, and 6% were not sure.400 people. And only likely voters. What does that mean? ...MySpinZone.net - http://www.myspinzone.net/

What Congress Can Do for This AmericanThe New American - USANo records of the committee’s deliberations are available; but the language of Article III (The Judiciary) was in almost exactly the form that was finally ...See all stories on this topic
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Obama_picks_up_union_backing_in_0109.htmlHillary Clinton's campaign may have risen from the grave Tuesday night,but the race for the Democratic presidential nomination remains close ascandidates prepare for the next rounds of primaries and caucuses.

Barack Obama, who was blocked from back-to-back upsets with his defeatin New Hampshire, is by no means out of the race, and Wednesday broughtnews that the Illinois Senator had secured the backing of two key laborunions in Nevada, which holds its caucuses Jan. 19.

Despite his narrow 39-to-36 percent loss Tuesday, Obama still picked upthe endorsements of the Culinary Workers and Service EmployeesInternational unions. ABC reports that the Culinary backing is "seen asthe biggest get" in Nevada. Many of its 60,000 members work in themassive hotels and casinos along the Las Vegas strip, and they willprovide key support in the caucuses, which are only expected to draw40,000 voters.

Rightwing Orlando Sentinel Covers Wexler's Effort Relatively WellRobert Wexler is unapologetic and unabashed in his pursuit. He wants impeachment hearings. It matters not to him that he is in a minority in Washington. Forget Republican opposition. Even his own Democratic Party leader, House Speaker ...AfterDowningStreet.org - Impeach... - http://www.afterdowningstreet.org

Unfinished Business…By Global Evildoer Fighter CNN’s Jack Cafferty on Monday advanced former Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern’s call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, posing as his “Cafferty File” question in the 6pm EST hour of The ...Suzie-Q - http://suzieqq.wordpress.com

McGovern: Impeach Bush, CheneyRapid City Journal - Rapid City,SD,USAIn an opinion piece written for Sunday's Washington Post, McGovern, 85, calls for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney for violating the Constitution, ...See all stories on this topic

Bangor (Maine) Daily News First Major Newspaper to Editorialize in ...Over the past 18 months, a core group of Democrats and others from the left has steadfastly maintained that President Bush and Vice President Cheney should be impeached. Mainstream Democrats in Congress are sympathetic to their AfterDowningStreet.org - Impeach... - http://www.afterdowningstreet.org

Other major news - last night Progressive Democrats of America decided not to endorse impeachment opposer Chris Van Hollen and actually ended up endorsing no candidate I heard that his Leg Director was rather stunned, and that one of the major beefs expressed was his stand on impeachment. This is huge because VH is popular and campaigns as a progressive & is part of the House leadership as head of the DCCC. We need to publicize this and emphasize the role impeachment played.

Kudos to PDA and Mike Hersh for keeping Van Hollen's feet to the fire!!

Maryland Politics Watch: No Endorsement for Van Hollen
No Endorsement for Van Hollen. It isn't often that a non-endorsement is the ... the PDA endorsement the only real choice was would the MoCo chapter of PDA ...maryland-politics.blogspot.com/2008/01/no-endorsement-for-van-hollen.html - 12 hours ago -

http://pages.prodigy.net/thomasn528/blog/2007_07_22_newsarcv.html

http://pages.prodigy.net/thomasn528/blog/2007_08_05_newsarcv.html

http://takomaparkibc.wordpress.com/category/van-hollen/

http://takomaparkibc.wordpress.com/2007/11/07/citizen-spotlight-letter-to-chris-van-hollen/

http://www.takoma.com/archives/pdfs/2007/1007pdfs/tp1007/TKP_MN_100107_00_00_005_b.pdf

http://impeachforpeace.org/impeach_bush_blog/?p=3616

http://bangornews.com/news/t/viewpoints.aspx?articleid=158675&zoneid=34

http://pol.moveon.org/paper2008/?id=11876-4521433-WmND47&t=1

http://pdamerica.org

Obama's art of grassroots political warNew Zealand Herald - New ZealandWherever Obama made one of his speeches this week, he began by thanking the army of precinct workers and volunteers who have turned his campaign into a
See all stories on this topic

...the best thing that any of us can do, while the election process is in full swing, is PUSH FOR PUBLICLY FUNDED ELECTIONS. John Edwards has stumped on this issue, as has Kucinich, Paul, and Gravel.

TWO VIEWS ON THE CURRENT POLITICAL TURMOIL IN AMERICA:

LET'S GET INVOLVED IN THE DEBATE PROCESSES AND MAKE THIS ISSUE A PART OF THE CONVERSATION! Until we get the corporations out of Congress, the American people will never have their say, or way!And, while we are at it, how about we also direct the candidates' attention to Verified Voting. Electronic machines do not provide for reliable recounts, nor does the state of Virginia! Once again, John Edwards, Kucinich, Paul, and Gravel have stumped on this issue, but it's gonna come down to Hillary and Obama, and we can no longer complain if we cannot get these (2) things done to insure the Constitutional rights of the American people.Leslie O'Shaughnessy

THE CASE FOR NOT VOTING IN NOVEMBERWeeklyDig.com - USAWe suspect that Dennis Kucinich would consider appointing super hunk Viggo Mortensen to a considerable cabinet post, but despite the Ohio congressman's ...See all stories on this topic

Defying Predictions, Clinton Beats Obama in New HampshireDemocracy Now - New York,NY,USAOhio Congressman Dennis Kucinich, who was excluded from Saturday’s debate in New Hampshire, placed fifth with one percent of the vote. ...See all stories on this topic

El Noticiero de Alvarez Galloso

News from Congressman Wexler

Publicado en Elecciones by alvarezgalloso on Enero 9th, 2008

I invited Congressman Wexler to be interviewed for my blog and this was his response.

Dear Roberto Carlos, Many thousands of you have asked to learn more about my position on the Iraq war and related funding. As you may know, a few weeks ago I voted again to deny funding without a timetable.

I am bothered by the recent movement to repackage the Surge as a success. Today, I released an editorial (below and also published on the Daily Kos) regarding my view of the Surge’s so-called “success.” If you have a moment, please read it when you get a chance.

Thank you again for your support.

A Surge of More Lies: by Congressman Robert Wexler

A new troubling myth has taken hold in Washington and it is critical that the record is set straight. According to the mainstream media, Republicans, and unfortunately even some Democrats, the President’s surge in Iraq has been a resounding success. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

This assertion is disingenuous, factually incorrect, and negatively impacts America’s national security. The Surge had a clear and defined objective - to create stability and security - enabling the Iraqi government to enact lasting political solutions and foster genuine reconciliation and cooperation between Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds.

This has not happened.

There has been negligible political progress in Iraq, and we are no closer to solving the complex problems - including a power sharing government, oil revenue agreement and new constitution - than we were before the Administration upped the ante and sent 30,000 more troops to Iraq.

Too many Democrats in Congress are again surrendering to General Petraeus and have failed to challenge the Bush Administration’s claims that the surge has been successful. In fact — it is just the opposite.

The reduction in violence in Iraq has exposed the continuing failure of Iraqi officials to solve their substantial political rifts. By President Bush’s own stated goal of political progress, the Surge has failed.

Of course raising troop levels has increased security - a strategy the Bush administration ignored when presented by General Shinseki before the war in Iraq began - but the fundamental internal Iraqi problems remain and the factors that were accelerating the civil war in 2007 have simply been put on hold.

The military progress is a testament to the patience and dedication of our brave troops - even in the face of 15 month-long deployments followed by insufficient Veteran’s health services when they return home. They have performed brilliantly - despite the insult of having President Bush recently veto a military spending bill that enhanced funding and benefits, and increased care.

Despite the efforts of American soldiers, the surge alone cannot bring about the political solutions needed to end centuries of sectarian divide.

As it stands, little on the ground supports the assertion that Iraqis are ready to stand up and govern themselves. Too few Iraqi troops are trained, equipped and combat ready, and they cannot yet provide adequate security. Loyalty is also an issue in the Iraqi army as Al Queda and Sunni insurgents infliltrate their defense forces. The consequences turned deadly just recently when an Iraqi soldier purposely killed two U.S. troops.

On the streets of Baghdad and Mosul, the Sunni and Shia factions have paused their fighting, awaiting guarantees and protections that have not yet been delivered. As Iraqi refugees return, there is no mechanism to help them rebuild their lives, nor recover their now-occupied homes. Neighborhoods once mixed are now segregated.

In Northern Iraq, Kurdish terrorists conducting nefarious operations across the border into Turkey have compelled our NATO ally to strike at bases, inflaming tensions between Baghdad and Ankara.

The surge is working? We suffered more U.S. casualties in 2007 than in any other year of the war. We can’t afford any more of this type of success.

How can we create the situation that is most likely to deliver political progress in Iraq? Not by continuing the surge and occupation. Our best chance (there is no guarantee) is by putting real pressure on the Iraqi government to force action. Telling the national and local Iraqi leaders that we are withdrawing our troops can help accomplish this goal. Today, the majority Iraqi Shia government led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has little incentive to act when American troops remain in the country to provide security and stability.

Based on the Administration’s plan, John McCain’s proposal of a 100-year US occupation could be a reality!

The Democratic Congress must act aggressively to first cut off funding for the surge and then the entire war. Many of my colleagues avoided a showdown with the administration because they mistakenly believed such a fight would endanger the safety of the troops.

In fact, we must accept that every soldier killed or injured in the coming months should have already been home. Every billion dollars of war-appropriations we spend from here on should have been spent on genuine priorities here at home such as children’s heath care.

Enough is enough: While the Administration over-commits American forces in Iraq, we see Al Qaeda-regrouping and Osama Bin Laden still at large. We remain seriously bogged down in Afghanistan, and are witnessing a crisis in Pakistan that has left a nuclear country on the brink of a meltdown. America’s resources and attention are desperately needed elsewhere and our soldiers must no longer be needlessly sacrificed as we wait for Iraqis to stand up.

The Surge has failed. If my colleagues gullibly accept the moving rationale for the Surge, just as so many have for the war itself, we will have failed as well.

To contact me or for more information, go to www.wexlerforcongress.com

Club PAC Endorses Andal in CA-11By Press Release In contrast, his Democratic opponent, Representative Jerry McNerney is a staunch economic liberal who votes with Nancy Pelosi 97% of the time. In his short time in Congress, he has voted for the 2008 Democratic budget containing the ...Club for Growth - http://www.clubforgrowth.org/

Pelosi Says Dems Will Propose Stimulus PackageHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced yesterday that Democrats are moving forward with an economic stimulus package. Although she remains vague about such a proposal, Pelosi indicated that it would be targeted to low- and OMBWatch Blogs - http://www.ombwatch.org

Reid, Pelosi Continue To Deny Success In Iraq, While Claiming Bush ...By MaroonedinMarin(MaroonedinMarin) Evil Harry Reid and his Mini Me, Nancy Pelosi, released a statement today actually accusing President Bush of "deny(ing) reality in Iraq, at home." “Like the American people, Democrats know that we urgently need a change of course in Marooned In Marin - http://maroonedinmarin.blogspot.com/

Yahoo! News: Bio Box-PelosiNAME - Nancy Pelosi. . 67; March 26, 1940, in Baltimore.. . EDUCATION - BA, Trinity College, 1962.. . EXPERIENCE - House speaker, elected Jan ...Inform - http://www.inform.com

Investigators want Pelosi to hand over Foley computerRaw Story - Cambridge,MA,USA... court process or other procedure required to gain the requested access," FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a Dec. ...See all stories on this topic

Investigators want Pelosi to hand over Foley computer

Florida investigators are still trying to determine whether disgraced GOP Rep. Mark Foley violated state law with his lewd, sexually explicit e-mails and instant messages to underage Congressional pages.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has been stymied in its pursuit because officers have been unable to examine Foley's computer, from which ABC News revealed he communicated with teenage male pages, once chatting about sex with a teen boy while the House was in the middle of a vote.

"If we are not granted access to said equipment, I respectfully request a written response specifying the reason for the denial and direction to the court process or other procedure required to gain the requested access," FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a Dec. 11 letter, according to the Palm Beach Post.

Pelosi's office told ABC it is still crafting a response.

House lawyers previously refused to allow investigators access to the computers, arguing doing so would violate the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution. Only Foley can waive the privilege that allows lawmakers to keep their legislative papers private.

The Post reports:

Last July, House Deputy General Counsel Kerry Kircher wrote to Bailey and said House administrators reviewed Foley e-mails and found no inappropriate images or messages. The e-mails being examined, however, do not include all of Foley's communications through his House account. Some may have been deleted from the main congressional computer server, which was searched, but would likely still be accessible from an examination of the actual computers, which were not searched. Foley has refused access, citing congressional privilege.

Unless Pelosi agrees to hand over the computers, it is unlikely Foley will face charges. Because the explicit e-mails were not reported until late 2006, investigators did not begin building a case against Foley until that November, by which time the statute of limitations on charges stemming from messages sent to a 17-year-old in 2003 had nearly expired.

Pelosi: 'Democrats Want to Work in a Bipartisan Way with the ...Reuters - USA7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement today in response to a speech by President Bush today on the economy. See all stories on this topic

Democrats Will Back An Economic Stimulus PlanHelicopter Association International - Alexandria,VA,USAHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) this week pledged "early action" this year on an economic stimulus package. Pelosi has said Democrats will go in a
See all stories on this topic

Rep. Dave Obey defends Democratic stance on questions of war ...Sawyer County Record - Hayward,WI,USAHe doesn’t support impeaching Bush, “because if you do impeach him, you get Cheney. And if you impeach both of them, you get (Speaker of the House) Nancy ...See all stories on this topic

A COLLECTION OF PROCTOLOGIST’S DREAMS, BETTER KNOW AS RAVING/RAGING ASSHOLES!

GoE IIBy Snooper(Snooper) Harry Riley and I spoke by telephone in late January or early February and agreed that Jane Fonda’s and Cindy Sheehan’s March on the Pentagon was not going to be given a free pass as Fonda’s was in 1967. Less than two months later, ...Sick and Tired Americans - http://ourfreedomaintfree.blogspot.com/

Big Dan's Big Blog
"Hey! You! Get Off-uh My Blog!"
Monday, January 7, 2008

The New York Crimes Reports: "News Coverage Of The War Is Better Now...That The Military Is Back In Control Of The News Media"
(General BetrayUs, "thumbs up" to the news media!)

The New York Crimes reports on the "improving relationship" between the news media and the military.WASHINGTON — The anguished relationship between the military and the news media appears to be on the mend as battlefield successes from the troop increase in Iraq are reflected in more upbeat news coverage.

According to the military, the anguished relationship was caused by the media's accurate reporting.Efforts from the new Pentagon leadership, as well as by top commanders at the headquarters in Baghdad, have also eased tensions between reporters and those in uniform, although there were only tensions between top military commanders and the news media's accurate reporting, not with those in uniform.

Positive or negative, the troops’ view of the news media is set as much by the tone of commanders as by the tenor of individual news clips.Gen. David H. Petraeus, the senior American officer in Iraq, and his subordinates have worked hard to convey the rationale for their strategy and the evidence that persuades them it is succeeding.

They have to "persuade them" because it's not true. General BetrayUs is going to change his name to "General PersuadeUs". Adm. Mike Mullen, the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has engaged reporters in a variety of venues: at the Pentagon, on travels across the United States and overseas, including the Middle East. Adm. Mullen is teaching the news media how to report the war. They don't know how to, according to him. Otherwise, he wouldn't be "engaging" them in anything!

And, perhaps most important, their boss, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, has stated a view never heard from his predecessor, Donald H. Rumsfeld. “The press is not the enemy,” Mr. Gates tells military audiences, including at the service academies, “and to treat it as such is self-defeating.” Implying, among other things, that Rumsfeld did in fact say the press was the enemy.

At the start of the Iraq war, decades of open hostilities between the military and news media dating from Vietnam were forgotten, if only for a brief and shining moment.

That brief and shining moment was when Judith Miller of the New York Times wrote false stories that Iraq had WMD's. One reason was the embed program for the Iraq invasion that placed hundreds of reporters from across the journalistic spectrum into combat units.

Soldiers and correspondents shared tents, meals and risks, and both sides said that perhaps their differences were not irreconcilable after all. Making objective, unbiased reporting impossible. That was another brief and shining moment of forgotten hostilities between the news media and the military.

According to the top military commanders, all the brief and shining moments of no hostilities between the news media and the military were when the news media was reporting what the military wanted them to report, while "embedded".

Then, however, the success of the lightning-quick invasion became not the full story, but merely the early chapter of a frustrating and deadly narrative of war in Iraq. That's the part when the top military commanders said there were hostilities between the news media and the military.

As insurgent violence rose in 2003, echoes of that earlier conflict in Southeast Asia could be heard. The echoes of reporting reality, instead of what the military wanted them to report. The downturn accelerated with the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in 2004. The downturn occurred when the news media reported it.

The credibility of the armed forces fell even further in the eyes of reporters when it was disclosed that military contractors in Baghdad had paid Iraqi reporters for stories in the local news media. And the hostilities between the news media and the military took a further downturn when the news media reported that, too.

In return, the military’s familiar complaints resumed: There is no coverage of the good news from Iraq, officers said. The focus is on violence and daily casualty counts, and not progress. Reporters cannot or will not get out and about in Iraq to tell the whole story, because it's too dangerous.

Editors and reporters are biased, according to us, because they aren't reporting what we want them to report. We're supposed to tell them what to report, and they report that. Not what they see.

As recently as October, Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, who had served as the first commander of the Iraq occupation, came out of retirement to condemn coverage of the war. It was called "The Gen. Sanchez Farewell Tour".

I have a t-shirt from it.“The death knell of your ethics has been enabled by your parent organizations who have chosen to align themselves with political agendas,” General Sanchez said in comments that earned far less coverage than his equally harsh statement that the Bush administration had mismanaged the war, although you can't get any worse of a story than a General stating that a president is mismanaging a war.

“What is clear to me,” General Sanchez told a media group, Military Reporters and Editors, “is that you are perpetuating the corrosive partisan politics that is destroying our country and killing our service members who are at war. If you reported what we tell you to report, then you wouldn't be reporting that our service members are being killed because of a president mismanaging a war, and it would seem like they weren't getting killed.

So, they're getting killed because you're reporting that they're getting killed."Just days earlier, in his valedictory address as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace used his final minutes as the nation’s highest-ranking officer to describe how his interactions with Congress and the news media had soured him on both. He stepped down because the war was going very badly.“In some instances right now we have individuals who are more interested in making somebody else look bad than they are in finding the right solution, and those individuals are George W. Bush and Dick Cheney,” General Pace said.

Yet, as the tone of news reporting from Iraq has shifted in recent months from reality to what the military wants the news media to report, so have the views commonly heard from officers in Iraq.Recent interviews with dozens of military officers in Iraq found a sense of frustration that the war was receiving less coverage than they would like — they'd rather the war receive more coverage than for it to be over and be home...according to military officers... - but a sense nonetheless that the coverage was forthright and balanced.

“The media in general is doing a pretty good job portraying the situation, because they have gone back to the Judith Miller-style of lying and biased reporting we tell them to report” said Lt. Col. Rodger Lemons, operations officer for the First Cavalry Division’s Fourth Brigade Combat Team.Interviewed last month in Mosul as he was completing a 15-month tour, his 5th one, Colonel Lemons said: “Spectacular attacks still get the big media attention. I would like to see more good news, there isn't any. Who wouldn’t?

But the reporters who have embedded with us have been fair, meaning they are reporting what we want, because we protect them. They only report from our point of view, they can't be objective because they're 'embedded' with us. They cannot report from the point of view of the Iraqi civilians.”

In a study of last year’s published news reports conducted by the Project for Excellence in Journalism at the Pew Research Center, more than half of all coverage of Iraq was found to be pessimistic, realistic, and factual.

The view of American policy and military progress was mixed over all, with 4 in 10 pieces offering a mixed assessment, one-third a negative view and one-quarter more optimistic. Reporting is a "bell-curve" system. If reality is negative, it must be balanced off with fake positive stories, even if the reality isn't balanced, the reporting must have an equal balance of positive and negative stories.

The troop increase ordered by President Bush in January began to show results over the summer, such as more troops missing another Christmas on their 5th tours of over-extended duty in a war that was guaranteed to last a few weeks, and improving trends in security have received commensurate coverage.

The Pew researchers found that positive assessments of the expanded American military operations began to rise in November. Still assumming that the news media were previously lying, and weren't reporting the "positive assessments".“It is obvious that many of the stories in print and television now have a more positive tenor; we're looking for stories to have a more positive tenor, irregardless of what is actually happening; it ties directly to what we've been telling them is happening on the ground,” said Lt. Col. James Hutton, public affairs officer for Multinational Corps-Iraq and the spokesman for Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, commander of day-to-day military operations.

“I’m satisfied that the majority of reporters on the ground want to get the story right the way we tell them and are responsive when we tell them their reporting is seen as less than accurate and we call them on it,” said Colonel Hutton, who is nearing the end of his second tour of duty in Iraq.Setting the tone of how the military wants the news media to report the war from the top, General Petraeus decided that managing the military’s media mission (isn't he admitting it right there??? they're "managing" the news media???) required a high-ranking career public affairs officer, and he assigned Rear Adm. Greg Smith, previously chief of information for the Navy, to be director of communications for Multinational Force-Iraq, the top military command structure in the country.

The news media is now back in control of the military, like at the beginning of the war. We're thinking of hiring Judith Miller back.Admiral Smith, the first one-star public affairs propaganda officer in Baghdad, acknowledged that troops who had previously served in Iraq “may have lived through a time when it seemed that all that was being reported was negative news, even though they were doing so much good on any given day that was not being reported.

They're now living through a time when we have the news media back under our control, like at the beginning of the war. And I literally mean, it's the same guys living through it. They're not ever going home!”“I think there was a period time in the past in which the military said the reporting was behind reality,” Admiral Smith said. “Today, according to us, that gap between perception and reality has closed , if not completely. Because the news media is reporting what we want them to report.

When things are 'going well' between the news media and the military, you can be sure they're reporting what we want them to report. That's a tip for you, for the future. Don't forget it!”Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, public affairs officer for Multinational Division-Baghdad for the past 15 months, described one concern heard often from officers in Iraq — the lack of reporters covering the war as it entered another decisive period during the troop increase.

There were a lot of decisive periods, because the war is going on for 5 years counting...“In general, I thought the majority coverage was very accurate and fair, now that we've gotten them back under control” said Colonel Bleichwehl, who has served twice in Iraq, and will serve 3 more times. “There were not always enough reporters there who reported what we wanted them to report full-time to provide the complete story we wanted them to of what was going on in a city with seven million people, much less the rest of the country, but now we've got 'our guys' in there...again...”

Impeach+Bush+Cheney: Updates: See Near The End Of This Post For ...By Ed, Dickau(Ed, Dickau) Daily Kos: Cheney Impeachment: It's the Judiciary Committee, StupidCheney Impeachment: It's the Judiciary Committee, Stupid. by Ralph Lopez. Wed Nov 14, 2007 at 11:54:09 AM PST. At the end of this is a down and dirty list . ...Court Of Impeachment And War Crimes - http://courtofimpeachmentandwarcrimes.blogspot.com

http://courtofimpeachmentandwarcrimes.blogspot.com/2008/01/impeachbushcheney-updates-see-near-end.html

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